Brazil

The stability of the global economy continues to oscillate between intermittent recovery and general unease, and the new US presidential administration stands at the crux of its ongoing uncertainty. Various international incidents have influenced the condition of the global economy—the ongoing Brexit saga

Brazil started the decade off as Latin America’s emerging-market darling but has been trapped in a dark economic and political tunnel since early 2014; is the country finally beginning to see the light at the end? One indicator, the Bovespa stock-market index, replies with a resounding yes.

Brazil’s demise has been remarkable. Nearly every major macroeconomic indicator is at historically undesirable levels at present, from unemployment to inflation, and from GDP (gross domestic product) growth to public debt.

Brazil’s state-controlled, multinational oil and gas giant, Petrobras, has fallen dramatically both in prestige and finances in recent months, bringing down the reputations of many of the nation’s top politicians and lawmakers with it, including the leaders of both chambers of Congress.

A growing middle class and one of the highest numbers of families with financial worth of more than $100 million in the world make Brazil very appetizing for private-banking providers. According to the latest McKinsey Global Private Banking Survey (2013), Brazil, together with Mexico, accounts for 67 percent of private assets under management in Latin America.

Three former heads of the Brazilian central bank, Gustavo Franco, Arminio Fraga and Henrique Meirelles have been critical of the economic policies of The current President Dilma Rousseff. At a conference in Rio the three bankers, who ran the central bank for 13 consecutive years between them, pulled no punches in their criticism of the current administration.